Edel 35 Sport
Owner Report by Ron Butler (12/18/98)

We purchased our Edel 35 in the islands where it had no
doubt been in charter service probably since it was new in 1992. The boat had been flipped
and dismasted during a hurricane. It had sustained damage to the cabin tops, decks,
hatches, interior bulkheads and hull liner as well as the rig. Significantly there was no
hull damage. The owner had repaired this damage, including a new rig (to the original
dimensions) and sails including new but poorly installed portlights all the way around.
(they leak)

The Edel 35 is an attractive design to me for several reasons. First, it is solidly
built. Three 8x9-inch oval aluminum tubes of substantial wall thickness connect the hulls.
These beams are mechanically attached to the hulls with massive clamps and bolts located
by saddles molded into the hulls. The bow and stern cross tubes join the hulls at the
sheer line while the central tube is raised up to the hull top deck level. This makes for
more headroom inside the hulls. The bridgedeck is suspended between the hulls on the
central and aft cross beams and bolted to the hulls. The foredeck is a large expanse of
open netting or trampoline. The deck/hull joint forms a massive overhanging lip that
supports a substantial rub rail. The hulls are symmetrical U sections with low aspect
ratio keels and skeg attached rudders. You could swap the port and starboard hulls,
theyre that symmetrical. Steering is a wheel driving a chain sprocket and then
cables to traveler attached tiller linkage. There are versions with tiller steering but
most were built with wheel steering. The boat draws about 2.5ft lightly loaded but with
eight people and loaded for a weeks cruise she draws more like 3ft.

Another desirable feature to me is that the Edel is three separate independent modules.
This means that even if one of the hulls gets holed and flooded there are still two other
independent modules that should float the boat. It may be floating at an odd angle but it
will still float. Our number two boat on the short list, the Gemini, is all one hull
basically. Except for built in buoyancy, a hole in one hull means the entire boat could be
flooded. In the model we have, the hulls interior doors all close and latch against
gasketed metal frames. I suppose that in a flooding situation closing the doors will
isolate the flooding to a single compartment. I hope I never have to find out. There are
three such door-closed compartments in each hull.

People have told me that they consider the three separate living areas to be a drawback
since you cant go from one hull to the other while remaining inside. I dont
consider this to be a significant drawback. Id rather have the safety margin. On our
boat, we have constructed a bimini top with full canvas enclosure that we can rig for
cooler or wet weather at the dock or at anchor. The canvas encloses the entire cockpit
area and covers both companionways. With the canvas rigged we can go from either hull to
the bridgedeck cabin or the other hull and remain inside the canvas.

Another feature that we really like is the companionways that run fore and aft
alongside the bridgedeck cabin. It gives a nice wide secure walkway for going forward. You
dont have to climb over a coach roof with footing angled the wrong way. Also the
decks around the mast provide flat areas for secure footing.

The Edel hulls are constructed of foam cored fiberglass. The interior bulkheads and
some furniture items are plywood but all exterior components are fiberglass. Interior hull
liners are fiberglass and made as separate components depending on location. Earlier boats
had plywood ladders for entering the hulls with small cubbyholes for storage between
steps. Later models like mine have molded fiberglass steps with no storage. Cold molded
plywood with graceful curves and a blond finish is used throughout for shelving and
cabinetry. Our model has fiberglass window frames. Earlier models had blond finished
plywood surrounds.

There is very little wood on the exterior, a feature I like. Im working to remove
the rest of it. I replaced the wood handrails on the cabin top with stainless tubing.
Ill replace the wood steps in the companionway with plastic when I get around to it.

Edel 35s came with two power options. A sled hung outboard motor, centrally located at
the aft end of the bridgedeck or twin 10hp diesels perched on saildrives located under the
bunks in the hulls. The boat I have originally had twin Volvo 2001 1 cyl 10hp diesels on
saildrives with fixed props. Folding props were an option. The boat was delivered to me
with the diesels in running condition. I replaced them with a new fiberglass sled and a
new 25hp Honda 4stroke outboard. I have seen Edels rigged with single or twin Yamaha 9.9
outboards mounted between the hulls at the aft end of the bridgedeck. I considered using a
Yanmar 27hp diesel outboard but I can buy three Hondas for the price of one
Yanmar.

On the plus side of the inboard diesels they were miserly on fuel; about 1 liter
each per hour. The boat was very easy to maneuver at low speed although my boat lacks a
wheel lock. When you maneuver with the engines you want the wheel locked down to prevent
the rudder from moving when you reverse. Also claimed on the plus side is that the props
will never ventilate by coming out of the water when motoring in rough seas but Ive
never had the Honda ventilate either.

On the negative side, the diesels are very noisy and vibrate enough to lift your head
an inch off the pillow if you are trying to sleep over one. These engines are known as
rock crushers for a reason. They also generate a lot of heat. Nice if you like warm bunks,
lousy in Florida. The fuel systems are prone to leaks mainly because the vibration loosens
everything up. They also weigh about 350lbs each with the saildrives and exhaust systems.
The saildrives are complicated and expensive to repair. Volvo doesnt believe in
sacrificial zincs either so corrosion is a serious problem. The saildrives mean that
theres a permanent large hole in the bottom of your boat with only an 1/8 inch
rubber seal to keep water out. The sail drives also tend to catch crab pot buoys and
represent significant drag not only because theyre permanently in the water (which
is significant drag) but because the weight is so far aft that the sterns are depressed.
Also there were 10-gallon fuel tanks in the afterlocker just in front of the rudderposts.
Even more weight where you dont want it. In addition, the batteries are located down
near and aft of the engines . more weight in the wrong place. At 10 hp the boat was
under powered. 10hp times two is not 20hp . More like 12hp. The boat would do 4 maybe
4.5 knots possibly 5k in flat water at full throttle. Most of these problems can be
overcome with proper insulation and maintenance but I prefer the outboard solution.

In favor of the Honda its relatively lightweight; about 200lbs with the
sled. Thats a significant net savings over the old diesels. It has more power. The
25hp Honda moves the boat at up to 8k in flat water. We also give up very little low speed
maneuverability. The Honda is steered with the rudders and short bursts of throttle will
kick the rear end around very nicely. Its also very quiet. You can now sleep down
below while motoring. We also use portable fuel cans for the Honda at about 6 gallons
each. This means that when the marina is closed for the holidays as happened to us
recently, and you need fuel, you can schlep the cans to a gas station and fill up.
Flexibility is great. We can also lift the sled and motor out of the water while sailing
to reduce drag.

When it comes to maintenance, I can just unbolt the motor from the sled, use the boom
and mainsheet as a hoist and swing the motor over to the dock. Taking your motor to a
repair shop for servicing beats trying to find a diesel mechanic to come to your boat.

The only negative to the Honda is that they do run on gasoline not diesel. The fuel
economy is still good however. We burn about 1 gallon per hour at 4200 rpm and about 6.5
knots. Thats only marginally more fuel than the diesels and its plus 2 knots.
If I slow to 5k, Id bet the fuel economy is about the same as the diesels. At 4200
rpm were running at 75% throttle so theres plenty of reserve if the current is
sweeping you toward bridge piling.

The Edel brochure says it can accommodate eight well, sort of. We did a trip from
Clearwater to Key West with eight on board and we were very comfortable and had a blast.
Two of the eight were teenagers and one was a boy of about 9. We managed fine but I doubt
if 8 adults would be very comfortable unless they were honeymooners not minding close
quarters. We also replenished food and supplies in Key West and fuel along the way. We
carry 18 gallons of fuel in three cans. It would be seriously overloaded if we carried
food, water, ice, etc for more than 3 or 4 days with that many people on board. You can
seat eight around the dinette but you have to slide around on the settee to get everyone
seated.

The after berths are 48" wide and plenty long enough for my 200lbs at 6ft and my
wife at 5 3". Its not queen size but it does the job. There is a slight
difference in the aft berths on our boat as opposed to one that was originally built for
outboards. Our aft berths are about 4 inches higher due to engine clearance requirement
for the inboards. This is not a significant impact to us. The berths are muzzleloaders.
That means you must climb in from the forward end. Its also not easy to make up one
of these beds.

The forward berths are end loaders too and a tad narrower than the rear berths. These
are fine for two kids or very small adults but even a big man will find that theres
plenty of room for one.

The bridgedeck is not arranged for sleeping but the dinette could be set-up to convert
to a luxury sized double. During our trip the teenagers stayed up late and ended up
sleeping on the bridgedeck settees. Not my favorite berth but they didnt seem to
mind.

There is plenty of storage under the aft berths especially now that the engines are
gone. I plan to add some shelving in there one of these days just to make storage of small
items easier. The forward berths also have storage under but 25-gallon water tanks occupy
half of it. Forward of the vee berths there is a substantial fore peak cubbyhole suitable
for sail storage or other not too often used gear.

Additionally, there is a hanging locker in between the head compartment and the vee
berth with a couple of cubbyholes opposite and a nice hanging locker next to the main
companionway. There is a bookshelf opposite the companionway stairs. The head compartment
has a nice medicine cabinet over the sink and a dry half-locker opposite the sink with a
small shelf under the window. In boats originally configured with an outboard, where the
aft berth is lower, there is also a shelf under the rear opening port over the berth foot
room.

Behind the rear crossbeam in each hull there is a large outside locker with a sliding
hatch that is isolated from the main living areas. I keep fuel in one side, and
miscellaneous stuff in the other.

In the bridge deck outside theres a large anchor well on each side just aft of
the main crossbeam. I keep two large fenders and 8 35ft dock lines in one with room to
spare. In the other I keep 300ft of ½ inch nylon anchor rode and 35ft of chain excepting
the length of chain that lies on the tramp netting between the locker and the offset
anchor roller. That leaves that locker half full including the chain windlass mounted
inside the locker. On most boats the anchor roller is centered. I prefer the offset one
because I always anchor using a bridle that consists of a dock line attached to the anchor
rode via rolling hitch and led to the other hulls cleat. The bridle really helps a
lot in minimizing swing. I carry a 35lb Bruce on the roller offset to the starboard side.
The offset also allows the chain to align directly to the manual windlass inside the
starboard chain locker. I have padded the crossbeam with rubber Treadmaster to keep from
scarring the aluminum with the hook or chain. In the aft locker I carry an FX-16 Fortress
with 10ft of heavy chain and 200ft of ½ inch nylon. I love the Bruce; Ive never
used the Fortress.

Directly in front of the mast there is a 2x3ft platform for a liferaft. I sold the
liferaft because I think its unnecessary on a cruising cat. Im not going to
leave a floating 35ft platform even if its upside down for an 8ft ring of rubber and
air. I left the platform in place. Its a good seat and a good place to stand while
working around the mast. On our last trip we deflated and rolled up our Avon dinghy and
lashed it to the platform. It does tend to catch the jib sheets when tacking though. I
have laced bungee cord around it and to the tramp netting which minimizes this.

In addition, the cockpit bridgedeck seats are lockers. On one side I have a 6lb
horizontal propane bottle for the stove. The other side is used for miscellaneous rope,
mop heads, gaff hooks, fishing tackle and whatever.

Inside the bridgedeck there is the usual under sink cabinet with two drawers under the
two-burner propane stove. With the outboard model, the batteries stow under the counter
next to the sink. Theres room for two group 28s, and a water pressure pump, plus. In
the diesel model, this all open storage space. If my wife has a complaint here, its
lack of a convenient place large enough for all the pots and pans she wants to carry.

The bridgedeck also has cubbyholes along both sides behind the settees as well as
forward behind the settee.

If you get the idea that theres plenty of storage, youd be right. You can
seriously overload this boat with stuff.

Ventilation is provided by a large hatch over the aft end of the vee berth (can also be
used for access) , a small hatch overhead in the head compartments, the main entry hatch
over the companionway and a large hatch in the aft end of the hull just above the aft
crossbeam at the foot of the berth. At anchor, opening the forward hatches and the far aft
hatch creates a nice flow through effect in any breeze at all. In the bridge deck on my
boat there are two opening hatches in the center overhead directly behind the mast. The
larger one can be used for access. On older models instead of two overhead hatches there
is one overhead hatch and then two small hatches, one port and one starboard just under
the crossbeam on the forward end of the bridgedeck. Leaving these open while slugging it
out in a seaway will definitely soak the interior. They do provide nice shaded ventilation
for the bridgedeck though.

The hatches forward in the hulls over the vee berths need to be substantial with solid
closures and gaskets. I have seen waves come over that section of deck. Secure hatches
there are a must. I replaced the original Goiot hatches with Lewmar Ocean hatches. The
Goiots are plenty strong enough, they were just in rough shape and leaked. I just
didnt want to mess with replacing the gaskets, glass, handles and then having to
remove and rebed them. It was far easier to just remove them and replace them with the new
Lewmars. The new Lewmars drop right into the same hole by the way

The hatches all have a nice little lip around the edge that we made screens for using
seamstresses elastic and noseeum proof screening. They just stretch into place around the
lip.

Also note that the hulls are mirror images of each other. Theres a vee berth,
hanging locker, head, and aft stateroom in each side with identical furniture and
cabinets.

The main hulls have standing headroom. According to the brochure its
64" but that must be under the companionway hatch. The rest of the boat is
marginally 6 until the forward end of the head where its down to maybe
59". Under the crossbeam its 54" maybe and 59" just
in front of the vee berth. I have to stoop to pass through the bulkhead doors. The bridge
deck headroom is about 5 9" where you can walk with plenty of sitting headroom,
for me anyway.

The stove that came with the boat ran on butane. I run propane in it with no problem.
It turns out that butane and propane are very similar and in fact some of the disposable
bottle propane that you buy in camping supply stores is really a mixture of the two.
Behind the stove is a 20-gallon water tank. Between the three tanks we carry a total of 70
gallons of fresh water. My boat has pressure water, my friends uses small foot
pumps. Any of the three tanks can supply water to any of the three outlets in my system.
On my friends boat, the starboard tank supplies only the starboard sink, etc.

The icebox in mine was cooled by an evaporative type unit which quit completely just
before our last trip and just after a service technician tested it. I have since found
that two 25lb blocks of ice will last over a week in there with the box reasonably full of
cold foodstuff. My friends Edel has a small LPG refrigerator in it. I think
its a bit small. Maybe its 2 cu ft. Im not sure that hes happy
with it. (Another friends Gemini has a gas fridge of about 5 cu ft that they just
love.)

My box is more like 6 cu ft. I havent yet decided what to do for refrigeration.
Ill probably replace the 12v evaporative unit although some of the newer 12v holding
plate systems seem attractive.

The rig is simplicity itself. The forestay is mounted on a hull-attached bridle and the
two main stays are attached to chainplates in the hull. The mast is stepped on the deck
over the main crossbeam. There is a jumper stay over a single set of spreaders on the
mast. The main crossbeam has a massive dolphin striker underneath to take the rig loading.
The rig is fractional with a large full batten main sail with three reef points. Mine has
a roller-furling jib, which I wouldnt have a cruising boat without. The reefing
system is simple and works well. Cleats built into the boom end and a winch set up to reel
in the slab reefing lines makes reefing simple and straight forward.

The fractional rigged jib, even though it overlaps the main, is quite small. For one
thing the tack is raised above the roller drum which sits about 3ft above the main cross
beam on the bridle. Because of this and the fractional rig, the jibs area is small
and light air performance suffers somewhat. On the other hand, when it blows twenty,
having the sail small and low helps. The high foot also means that sun bathing beauties on
the tramp dont get flogged when you tack. Everythings a trade off.

The jib leads to the bridgedeck cabin sides and then to large Lewmar self-tailing
winches. The mainsheet is led off the boom end to a line controlled traveler over the rear
cross beam. Mine has an interesting double block system that gives 6:1 purchase if you
haul both lines together and 12:1 if you pull only one tail. Other Edels Ive seen
use more conventional systems. I like mine better.

My friend has taken steps to overcome the lack of low wind speed performance on his
Edel. He has added a folding 6ft bow sprit, masthead running backstays and a masthead
halyard. This allows him to fly gennackers, screachers, spinnakers and other such
headsails from the masthead. He can even run both the roller jib and a screacher like a
big cutter rig, if the angle is right. It helps his speed quite a bit if the wind is under
10k.

Remember that these boats were designed to be easy to sail in the trade winds charter
belt. That means routine, easy sailing in 25k breezes and that is definitely what this
boat does best. When the wind pipes up over twenty, the Edel really begins to fly. I have
sailed my boat with full main and genoa on a close reach with the apparent wind speed
indicator showing 35k and the GPS showing us 12k made good. We were blowing by monohulls
that were rounding up and laying down all over the place. We caught and passed one 40ft
mono with double reefed main, heeled over and struggling to stay up on course. We blew
through her lee at twice the speed, sailing flat. And thats with just me at the helm
and my wife making sandwiches. I love it!

Anyway, in a past life, we have owned a Tartan 34 monohull, and a Stiletto catamaran
among many other sailboats. I have to say that I miss the speed and liveliness of the
Stiletto but I wouldnt go very far on what is essentially a beach cat. While I miss
that speed, the Edel sure runs circles around the old Tartan. The best day the Tartan ever
had showed us 7k on a loran unit on a flat water beam reach. The Edel has seen 12k on the
GPS a couple of times and my friend claims to have hit 14k with his. With the Tartan, we
planned trips around an optimistic speed of 5k, on the Edel we plan at 7k and often beat
that. Its just that if the wind dies completely, I can still motor the Edel at 7k.

Speed is interesting in another way. On the Stiletto you could really feel the speed.
It really felt like you were going fast but then you peek at the GPS only to discover
youre not really going as fast as you thought. Each puff was a burst of acceleration
that literally slid you back in your seat. With the Edel you dont notice the speed.
Its very much calmer and steadier. When you look at the GPS or knotmeter you are
surprised to see how fast you are going. Maybe its all in what youre used to.

For another performance comparison, we race sometimes with the Florida Offshore
Multihull Association. We are definitely faster than the Gemini Cats including the 105M
and not as fast as a Newick 38 tri which I wouldnt call a cruiser but the owner has
raced it to Cuba and Mexico so youd have a hard time telling him that its not
a cruising boat. The Edel has low aspect keels and the Geminis have centerboards but in a
recent race which put us dead to windward on a one-way beat, the Geminis were not pointing
any higher and we were going faster in a light 6k breeze. Those are about the only true
cruisers in the club that we see out there regularly although a friend is buying an
Iroquois so well see how we do against him. Another friend has a Searunner 34 with a
rotating mast but he doesnt race and we havent been side by side with him yet.
The racers like Stilettos and F-boats are way faster but then they arent nearly as
comfortable. I guess that as you get older comfort means more and speed less . Or
something like that.

The roughest water Ive been in with the Edel is entering Boca Grande Pass with an
incoming tide against a strong southeasterly wind. The waves must have been 15ft and very
short period. The boat would climb a wave and half the boat had to be out of the water. It
would fall off the top of one wave and bury itself up to the mast in the next wave. The
Edel just shook a bit and attacked the next wave. Fortunately, it only took about 20
minutes of motor sailing to get through the pass so we didnt have to endure much of
that but we sure had an audience on the north beach. Quite a few people had gathered to
see if we were going to make it through. We did with no problem. The boat is rock solid.
Yes, we got wet but it was the only time Ive seen green water over the bows.
Ordinarily this is a very dry sailing boat.

One more performance measure. We left Gordon Pass (Naples) for Key West with 8 people
on board plus food, water, beer etc. and were anchored behind Tank Island off Key West
14hrs later. We had a nice 15k easterly all the way, which means we were beam to broad
reaching. Thats about 100 nautical miles. Including feeling our way down Northwest
Channel at night and time spent anchoring, thats an average of over 7k.

Am I happy with the boat? You bet. The boat is the right size for two people to handle.
I can single hand the boat with the aid of the autopilot. The draft is shallow enough for
the tidal creek behind our house and the rig is still short enough to use the Okeechobee
Waterway. Im not sure I would want anything bigger, either. Bigger means much more
expense in maintenance, repairs, insurance, fuel, dockage, etc. This seems to be the right
size for what we like to do, cruising south Florida the Keys, Bahamas and maybe one day
Cuba and Mexico. We think we have the best buy in a cruising cat under $100k and quite
possibly the best buy period.